South Australian early and mid-career farmers are stepping up to strengthen their business and drought resilience skills through a new initiative of the SA Drought Hub.
The Early to Mid-Career Farmers Program will see the formation of seven regional groups, each involving 10 to 20 growers. Groups are located in the Eyre Peninsula, Upper North, Adelaide Plains, Fleurieu Peninsula, southern Mallee, Upper South East and Limestone Coast.
SA Drought Hub Knowledge Broker Tony Randall said the program was designed to empower producers to manage their business in dry and uncertain times, recovery periods and in the good times.
“The Early to Mid-Career Farmers Program is about investing in people, our future industry leaders,” Mr Randall said.
“We’re already seeing incredible enthusiasm from participants who are keen to be part of the program and explore not just the operational side of farming, but also business management, decision-making and preparedness – skills that build resilient, adaptive, and profitable farm businesses.”
Led by local farming systems groups, Agricultural Bureau’s, or Local Government, these groups offer a tailored and peer-driven practical program specific to the learning interests of each group. Each group will deliver a four-part workshop series shaped by participants themselves, ensuring sessions are regionally relevant and responsive to local priorities and participant needs.
“Some groups have utilised the new ‘Drought Resilience Information and Knowledge Sharing (or DRINKS)’ program to help map their training priorities,” said Mr Randall.
A feature of our early to mid career farmer program is the mapping session we hold at the beginning with each group – the approach, called DRINKS, allows us to help producers identify actions to take before, during, and after drought.
Developed by the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (Vic Hub) and Cam Nicholson, of SFS-Vic Hub SW Node and Nicon Rural Services, the DRINKS component, which stands for the Drought Resilience Information and Knowledge Sharing (or DRINKS), introduces the Four Phase Drought Model which considers Good Times, Uncertain Periods, Drought, and Recovery.
“We use this as a planning tool to help map decisions and identify trigger points based on key indicators such as stock decisions, water, pasture growth, finances and even the well being of producers,” said Mr Randall.
“Participants actively contributed to the DRINKS mapping and valued the process, which helped them consider which aspects of decision making they wanted to build their confidence in,” said Mr Randall.
This process was utilised so that groups could truly co-design and collectively determine their learning pathway.
“We are excited to see our groups kick off with the group at Owen being the first to hit the ground”.
Led by Mick Brougham, Brougham Ag, the first session saw the group of 21 early to mid-career farmers participate in a DRINKS mapping session followed by an infield session on pulse agronomy. They will now go onto participate in further training throughout 2026 on grain marketing scenarios in different seasonal conditions, herbicide residues in dry times, managing non-wetting sands, decision making tools and business planning.
The Upper South East group in Keith, led by Felicity Turner at Turner Agriservices, brought together 16 producers from the Coorong and Tatiara districts. This group mapped out their direction for the series and are focusing on farm financials and business planning, effective communication and livestock feed requirements.
The Peake group, also led by Felicity Turner, brought together 17 producers in their first session to map their training priorities also using the DRINKS program. They participated in a session on shearing shed design and layout and considered how to make investment decisions. Their future training program will look at containment and production feeding, understanding investment decisions and costs of production and how to make more money! The Peake and Keith groups are also supported by the Coorong Tatiara Local Action Plan (CTLAP).
In Naracoorte, the group led by Dr Melissa Fraser from Soil Function Consulting and supported by the MacKillop Farm Management Group, mapped their training program and will explore containment feeding, herbicide residues and business planning.
Overall, the SA Drought Hub see the new program as a valuable way to build capacity and support producers across our State.
“The program is being delivered through trusted local networks and engaging such great early and mid-career farmers. We are proud to be helping create a space for connection and learning among early and mid-career producers and future leaders,” Mr Randall said.
The South Australian Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub is one of eight Hubs established across Australia through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund. The SA Drought Hub brings together a dynamic network of primary producers, industry groups, researchers, government agencies, universities, agribusinesses, traditional owners and others to work towards a common vision to strengthen the drought resilience and preparedness of farms and regional communities in South Australia. This program received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
For media interviews contact:
Belinda Cay
M: 0423 295 576
E: belinda.cay@agcommunications.com.au
